On Gaien Higashi Dori

Life from the Raglan Road of Tokyo

Thursday, September 18

Structural Reform of Application Form

I remember years back when I first sat a Japanese Proficiency Test, filling out the application form was actually harder than passing the test. It took me the best part of a day, if I remember correctly. Somewhere between 1999 and now though, the powers that be have decided to pare the application down to the bare essentials. Fair play to them. I was stunned when I saw the tiny little application form. Where are the other 10 pages, I wondered. What took me a whole day in 1997, I finished in 15 minutes today.

Full credit to the AIEJ.

Now, they only have to sort out a couple more minor details. Like why the test is only held once a year, why sitting it is drawn out over a whole day, why it costs so much, why it takes an age to process the results despite computerized marking, and why I always have to trek out to the back end of Chiba to take it.

Gaien Higashi Dori means Outer Gardens (of the Meiji Shrine) Ave. East. It is one of the beautiful big leafy avenues that winds through the center of Tokyo.
Raglan Road is a poem and song about love and loss by one of the finest Irish poets of the twentieth century, Patrick Kavanagh.